Chapter 29
.
Professor Xavier attempted to soothe over the aftermath of what happened with Phoenix. It had revealed that sentinels were still being created, and likely improved somewhat, by the United States government. President Kelly had made it clear that he wanted peace between humans and mutants, but he was clearly taking steps in case peace couldn't be maintained. Xavier feared that this would give Magneto and his followers propaganda for recruiting others to their side. And there was still the question of what happened to Phoenix. Logan said that Phoenix tried to sacrifice themself by flying directly into the sun itself. As far as Xavier knew no living creature could survive that. But they had never really determined the limits of their powers. And it was always possible that Phoenix merely changed their mind, and went somewhere else, but where? Hank McCoy was able to repair Ben Riley. Things were awkward between him and the rest of the Xmen, given what he had tried to do to Phoenix, but Xavier strongly believed in reconciliation, even when it was incredibly difficult. If Phoenix were to ever come back, God only knew what might happen.
.
President Kelly also had to deal with the aftermath of the incident with Phoenix. He had revealed to Xavier that they were still working on sentinels, and Magneto would use this against them. And with Creed back, his anti-mutant rhetoric had only gotten worse. His followers got more violent, less willing to listen to any kind of election. As much as Kelly feared losing the presidency, he feared what Creed's followers would do if he refused to concede the election even more. But the operation had at least accomplished it's goal of neutralizing the threat of Phoenix. Or so they hoped. But then one day NASA received a message from space, specifically from the Moon. From everything Bishop had told them about Galactus, he wouldn't bother giving them any kind of warning. Was it possible that there was life on the Moon? If so, how had they hidden themselves for so long? Those questions paled in comparison to a very dark thought. Perhaps, whoever these people were, they also feared Galactus and were willing to reveal themselves and even ally with Earth against him. And if the situation was really that serious, maybe it meant that Galactus was getting closer. It was clear that whoever was sending this message wanted to speak with president Kelly. Kelly agreed to speak with this person through closed circuit television. It was Maximus.
.
Maximus: Greetings Mr president. I am Maximus, the newly elected king of Attilan.
Kelly: It is good to speak with you. I am ignorant of your society, but I am willing to learn. My people have no conflict with you, I hope it stays that way.
Maximus: As do I. It seems we have a common enemy, Galactus. He is a threat to both of us.
Kelly: Indeed, and I hope we can work together against him.
Maximus: My people fled to the moon because we wanted to escape humanity and it's prejudices. From what I can tell little has changed.
Kelly: There has been some progress. Not nearly enough of it. But to say that there's been none at all is an insult to those who work towards peace and the sacrifices that they made.
Maximus: Perhaps. But I am taking a risk in revealing my people's existence to you.
Kelly: I will do what I can to earn that trust.
Maximus: You should know that my people have a new ally, one who can heal many on the verge of death.
Kelly: That's a handy skill to have in a war.
Maximus: Indeed. I believe you know them. They call themself Phoenix.
Kelly: Phoenix kidnapped our vice-president and nearly killed him.
Maximus: I am well aware of your troubles with Phoenix, they claim that Creed left them no choice.
Kelly: If you insist on keeping Phoenix as your ally, that could endanger our alliance.
Maximus: But Phoenix can be a powerful ally against Galactus. And given the threat that Galactus poses, we cannot afford to reject Phoenix.
Kelly: You have a valid point, unfortunately.
.
President Kelly soon made the announcement of life on the Moon, and his attempt to make Attilan an ally against Galactus. Considering the prevalence of mutants, and Kelly's efforts to unite the world against Galactus, people took this news fairly well. For the most part people were willing to work together against a common threat, even nations that were at war had backchanels for what to do if Galactus got too close to Earth. President Kelly thought back to a quote from Winston Churchill. "The only thing worse than going to war with allies, is going to war without allies." Both Kelly and Churchill knew the necessity of alliances in wartime, but if the coalition was large enough that could present its own set of problems. Each member of the coalition came with their own separate set of interests, and those interests might coincide for the moment, but that might not always be the case. If Galactus was indeed getting closer to Earth, and could potentially destroy almost all life, than many different groups and individuals would realize it was in their own best interest to work together to destroy Galactus. But there was no guarantee that the coalition would hold for long after Galactus was defeated. History showed that such coalitions usually fell apart. During world war 2 the United States and the Soviet Union worked together against Nazi Germany. But that alliance began to fell apart before Hitler was even dead, and they would be engaged in a cold war for four more decades. Still, maybe that brief alliance had ultimately kept America and Russia from nuclear war. Kelly knew that making Attilan into an ally against Galactus would mean tolerating them having Phoenix. If Phoenix really were powerful enough to withstand the sun itself, maybe they were necessary to destroy Galactus. But after that was over, God only knew where they would all stand.